A delicious Kerala style chicken roast, with fiery pepper spiciness… Last weekend, I went ahead and did something I have been planning for a really long time but was always confused if it was the best time to do it. After contemplating all this time and asking Allah to guide me, I realized there is never a best time. We may have a lot of calculations and permutations, but the fact remains that nothing happens the way that you wish things would be. Only a small part can be controlled, the rest we have to leave it to the force that is not in our hand and go with the flow, InShaAllah… Today, again I seem to be sharing a recipe from my umma’s handwritten notes, immediately after sharing the Pachakkari Kurma. Hehe… I tend to make a lot of roasts, because I love to scoop up…
Pachakkari Kurma | Mixed Vegetable Kuruma
I think when the head feels empty, the best thing to do is to write about the weather. 😉 I love the month of October for that change in the feel that comes with the month. The transition from the harsh summers to the cold winters is always the best time – for long rides, for outdoor dining or chai sessions, for beach time, or for simply feeling lazy! The only thing I can’t stand is the longer nights. Somehow, light makes me feel active. I feel like I can accomplish and complete more tasks during the morning hours. But as soon as the sun sets and darkness hits in, I go on switch-off mode. During winters, that mode is longer and quite tough to manage as well. I hope I can be a little more steady this year, even though I am not very positive about it… Hehe……
Soya Kheema | Vegetarian Kheema
Sometimes, while doing grocery shopping, I pick stuff at whim and then regret it later. It is even worse when they are stuff that my family just wouldn’t eat. That is what happens when I pick up soya chunks each time. When I see them on the aisle, I think, “Oh, I haven’t cooked these in a long time.” When I reach home, I will see all sour faces staring at the packet. Hehe… I have now literally stopped picking it up unless I really crave for it or have any specific plans in mind. I have a handful of soya chunks recipes on the blog: Soya Chunks Masala Soya Chunk Cutlets Soya Mince Pies Soya Masala Buns Soya is known to be a good source of protein for vegetarians, even though there are so many remarks otherwise as well. I had this pack and I was wondering…
Palak Murg | Chicken in Spinach Sauce
We are in the blessed month of Muharram. We had a public holiday over here on Sunday and it was quite relaxed. The summers are slowly taming down – I mentioned “slowly”, because sometimes they do act funny! – and it is indeed a relief. Moreover, schools are expected to open next week, starting with online classes. I simply can’t believe that two months of summer vacation got over just like that! At the beginning of last month, I was wondering how the girls are going to spend their time inside, with not much activity. Thankfully, they had madrassa classes and art classes online, which kept them busy. I am just thankful that it wasn’t as bad as expected. Just goes to tell, how much we think too much and spoil everything. Hehe… Over the weekend, the fasts of Muharram will be on. We can either fast 9 and…
Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese with Spinach {No Cream!}
For the Blogging Marathon #115 for theme “One Vegetable, Three Ways”, I have chosen spinach and after these chapathis, here is the second recipe. I already have a palak paneer recipe on the blog – which was coincidentally shared during a previous BM theme! – but that is a super easy truncated version to say the least. Usually dishes like these are treated like “treats”, something you make when you have guests coming or that you order when you go into a nice vegetarian restaurant. This happens even though the ingredients used are very regular. Haven’t you felt that? 😉 Anyway, coming back to this delicious dish from the vegetarian repertoire of a beautiful state called Punjab, the regular Palak Paneer is indeed a treat. Time is taken to blanch the spinach so that it doesn’t loose its green color. Usually it is cooked in ghee or butter…
Easy Chicken Curry {Using Curry Powder}
I am not a fan of spice blends picked up from the supermarket shelves. I would rather have individual spices in my pantry. Each brand has its own distinctive taste, actually making it difficult to like one. The only masala powder I pick up is the chaat masala and then on and off, a pack of Madras curry powder. I am not sure why I pick it up, but I love that smoky smell the spice mix gives when you open the dabba. Unlike most of the curry powders which are in a plastic pack sealed inside a box pack. the Madras curry powder always comes in a tin. I have read somewhere that they use this curry powder a lot in Emirati cooking, likely due to the influence of South Indian cooking on the local cuisine here. With the current batch I have, I used them in the…
Bull’s Eye Egg Curry | Potticha Mutta Curry
There is a reason why I specifically chose “Bring on the Curry” as the theme for this week’s Blogging Marathon #114. During the lock down period, my SIL and I would break our head thinking what to try for dinner. It is a multi-million dollar question all the time, isn’t it? Like many, a lot of my time goes trying to decide what to cook instead of the actual cooking. It was then I discovered umma’s notebook while rearranging my kitchen shelves. She had noted down some recipes that she had seen on TV and actually had cooked them a couple of times. I have already tried a few recipes from the book, and this is one of them. Many more will come in due course, InShaAllah… I always wish I am a bit more organized with food plans. Umma used to be like that. She had a…
Mixed Vegetable Sagu | Karnataka Style Vegetable Stew
For this week’s Blogging Marathon #114, when Valli published the themes and I saw “Bring on The Curry!”, I picked it up right away. I struggle with making curries especially for dinner. For lunch, we have a standard rice-curry-fish-stir fry combo, that is still manageable, but for dinner, to keep the folk’s interest, it is a tough task. Anything non-veg gets accepted with gusto but when it comes to vegetarian fare, I have a roller coaster ride. I guess anybody with a carnivorous family would agree to this. So you can imagine my excitement, when I made this sagu and it got wiped up from the plate. Such a joyous moment! A sagu is a rich gravy that is very specially made in Karnataka, usually eaten with set dosa or pooris. When you go through the list of ingredients, you may figure out the richness. The coconut and…
Kalonji Aloo | Potatoes with Nigella Seeds
The current pandemic had put a temporary stop to a few challenges and that included the AtoZ Challenge, that is hosted by Vidya and Jolly. After posting this recipe for the letter “M”, the tough times came through and taking into account the lock-down back home and non-availability of ingredients, the post for the letter “N” was moved. Finally, we had a declaration from Vidya that we could do our posts this month. During this pandemic, I decided I would cook up with what I had in my pantry – “Nigella Seeds” aka kalonji. This ingredient is actually something I rarely use in my cooking. I keep a little stock in my pantry so that I can sprinkle it into my pazhampori. I totally love the little bitterness it gives when you bite through it along with the sweet plantains. My impulse was to try Fami’s banana bread, but…
Aloo Baingan | Potatoes with Brinjal
Even though I have a lot of curry recipes already on the blog, somehow my mind always rotates around my sister’s complaint that I don’t have many “serious” recipes. I still fail to understand what she means by it. Hehe… With the last couple of months teaching a lot about the management of time and resources, it has become really important to learn to cook with whatever is available in the pantry. Alhamdulillah, we never faced a situation where we were short on anything. We still could order online and recieve stocks, we could move out and get the grocery we wanted, but I do know of a lot of friends and acquaintances who stayed in complete lockdown areas and had to adjust with whatever they had with them, and with no option of getting in any deliveries. I never knew that a combination of potatoes and brinjals…
Batata Batemjaan ~ Potato Aubergine Casserole
I was contemplating whether to post this now or later. But during Ramadan, even though we love to eat a lot of non-veg dishes, there are times when you would like vegetarian fare and you would prefer eating something that wouldn’t make you miss non-vegetarian food. This casserole perfectly fits the bill in every way. Let me start with a story. Last January when my parents were here, we were invited for dinner to HD’s local friend’s sister’s house. It is the first time I am eating at a local’s house. Expats in the Gulf countries may understand when I say “first time”. I do have a couple of local friends but we always end up meeting and eating out. The beauty of most of the Gulf countries is you do not feel like you are living in a foreign country, especially if you are an Indian, and…
Aloo Gobhi | Easy Cauliflower Potato Curry {Version 2}
How’s the current lockdown treating you all? With Ramadan right across the corner expected anytime on Thursday or for sure on Friday, it feels really different. We have already received notifications that the masjids would continue to remain closed, so all prayers would still be at home. Even though I have been pryaing Tharaweeh at home ever since the girls came their way, I always love going to the masjid for the Tharaweeh. It gives a real Ramadan feeling. For the past couple of years, even though not every day, I would go on and off whenever I have been able to settle up work. But this time, there is no hope. Let us wait and see how things fare as days pass by, InShaAllah… I am all in for gravies that don’t need too much work. I already have a version on the blog, which umma loves…
Dry Chicken Curry
Is there a dearth of chicken curry recipes? Surely not! I already have so many on the blog, and there are many many more that I have tried and are waiting to come up. Hehe… Why I decide to post them, is mainly because they taste different from each recipe I have tried despite having similar ingredients with just a small change in the cooking technique. That is surely an amazing characteristic when it comes to cooking. So after the Borani Banjan, here is a chicken curry that has a thick sauce and goes absolutely well with simple bread, chapathis or paratha, or a side to any dry flavorful rice like this coconut milk rice or masala choru. I have adapted this recipe from a cut-out I had pasted into my scrap book. I better not dwell around my cut-outs! There are so many of them that I…
Borani Banjan | Baingan ka Borani ~ Afghani Eggplant Yogurt Dish
Ever since the work-from-home has started, I have been trying a lot of new curry recipes that are easy to cook and are budget friendly. I am sure many of us have been doing this a lot. We buy vegetables for ten days and stretch whatever we have and utilize everything we have. Since it is slowly moving into summers, the chance of spoilage is high so it becomes even more imperative to cook everything and finish, before it lands up in trash. I have been noticing that a lot of my curry recipes and easy baking recipes have been doing extremely well, and hence I thought, why not share three back-to-back easy curry recipes that all of you can incorporate into your daily cooking, or maybe as a different menu, but with pantry ingredients. So let me start off with this Borani Baingan… I am sure like…
Restaurant Style Chilli Chicken
I mentioned I had guests in my last post. They left for home on Saturday and reached safely, Alhamdulillah. One amongst them was HD’s uncle, who had taken care of him when his parents passed away young. He owns a successful restaurant in an outskirt in Salalah, which is well known for its rotisserie chicken. He loves to cook once in a while, and when we are back home, he would get into the kitchen to fry fresh fish that he would get and come or make this delicious chilli chicken of his. The first time I tasted it was when he came on visit a couple of years ago. He asked HD to get one rotisserie chicken and asked me to slice the onions and tomatoes for him. The speed at which he made this dish was amazing, despite being an unknown kitchen for him. We mopped it…
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